Chronicles of Crime: 1400 Review - with Tom Vasel

Tom Vasel takes a look at the app driven medieval crime deduction game from Lucky Duck Games! Chronicles of Crime: 1400!
Intro 0:00
Overview 1:06
Final Thoughts 8:30
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[@DieJG]

I would love to see a Top 10 crime board games.

[@MJJMarkos]

You're absolutely awesome reviewing games man! I'm expecting this game in Spanish !!!! I have played the main box and the first two expansions, and I'm waiting for this one!!! Now that you did the review, my expectactions are higher! Thanks for the video!

[@darinlagarry3091]

I got the big box for this (includes the other two games) which showed up the other day. Looking forward to trying it out this weekend!

[@ExBeeOne]

I look forward to seing where Chronicles of Crime will be, in the Top 100. Last year it was #5.

[@ScytheNoire]

I received my trilogy and the fourth expansion box, along with the Collector's box. All four of the boxes fit in the one Collector's Box, that is the size of Ticket to Ride. They could've saved on so much packaging by just having all the components in the one box. It's ridiculous.

[@kennythegreatbear]

Probably a problem with assembling the boxes

[@thedicetower]

Well, they aren't selling them together, so it makes sense. They will eventually sell the games separately.

[@LordCyler]

Yeah they've explained this a lot already. While I don't like the waste, it would have cost more to save on that packaging. Just the way some things work. They didn't have to offer the large box at all, so you take the wins you get.

[@TheErnieforss]

I agree. I also got the 4 boxes last week. And I was really excited to play the 2400 one but I cant because the app isnt updated yet. Only 1400 is there

[@ScytheNoire]

@@LordCyler I'm glad they did offer the large box, saving a lot of space on the shelf. I think I'll just cut off the covers of other boxes, because the artwork is beautiful, and recycle the rest of them. Maybe frame these pictures to put in a game room.

[@VirGnar]

Lack of component drop was disorienting! I noticed there's something about the parental advisories. Does anyone know what they are for all the scenarios?

[@classicalteacher]

There's murder. There's adultery. I would never play it with my kids because of that.

[@DavidFeldman01]

@@classicalteacher Are there any expansions that are aimed at kids? The system seems perfect to play with my kids, I think they'd love it, but the stories would be a bit much.

[@classicalteacher]

@@DavidFeldman01 Welcome to Redview seems like the most kid friendly, but "There are indirect references to pornography and direct references to drug dealing." And "There is no violence." According to BGG users. I haven't played it yet. My wife and I kinda got mad at the adulterous characters in the original. My kids really enjoyed the intro case looking around for clues, but that was much more tame with dead, poisoned cats. I didn't let them play beyond that.

[@blankstarehaircare]

@@DavidFeldman01 there are some fan-made scenarios floating around (on boardgamegeek) that are more kid-friendly. (the other comments here re content are accurate)

[@searose6192]

@David Feldman There is a kids version of the game called Kids Chronicles: Quest for the Moonstones. My kids LOVE it.

[@piratesofpa55]

@Tom Vasel watch the movie "The Name of the Rose" and gain a better appreciation for medieval crime detection. Your review had me seriously nostalgic for that movie.

[@searose6192]

How adult is the theme? My daughter wanted to play with me (she's 11) so a bit of not too gory crime scenes is OK, but any more heinous crimes or salacious storylines would obviously be way too much for her. Is this pg, pg13 or R?

[@DontNickMe]

I bought the all in kickstarter and received them all couple weeks ago. Still haven't opened them yet. I'm debating selling them as CoC has 1 major flaw similar to other puzzle solving games: once you solve it, there's almost no replay value. Thankfully there's community built scenarios, but I can only find like 10 on BGG? Is there another site that has fan made missions?

[@ilqrd.6608]

That’s the thing with games about mysteries you need to solve...once you know you know. How is that a flaw? I don’t get it

[@scrooge-mcduck]

Love to be Sean Connery in "The Name of the Rose"

[@adamg4912]

Finished all the cases in the original and sold it off. They knock off a lot of movie plots, so being very familiar with detective fiction is a huge advantage. Chronicles is alright but it's not a series that I gush over. It's essentially Consulting Detective with QR codes (and I think I'd rather have the newspaper). The different time periods isn't giving me any FOMO either. They know the original is successful but instead of making these sets compatible, they're separate dead ends (apart from one time-travelling expansion). Completely different games, but I prefer Unmatched or Dominion for the ease that the different sets can be mixed and matched. This seems like a pure cash grab.

[@TheErnieforss]

I really with the game was on steam. And used my laptop camera. I dont want to spend money on tablet and my phone kind of sucks and I'm ashamed of passing it around the table.

[@l0rdbulb]

Just say that you're running low on battery and convince the friend with the nicer phone to download the app!

[@danieljames3380]

Not anti app, big fan of Mansions Madness but this appears to tip the pendulum too far. The physical components support the app, not the other way round.

[@felixfryxell7529]

What's wrong about it?

[@georgethanos757]

@@felixfryxell7529 There's nothing wrong, but in this case it could be a digital game. There's no reason to have physical components as cards & boards and the only way to play the game is to use your phone or tablet. If this is the case then you could use just the mobile devices. As I understand, Daniel says that you could play the game without the app which could be an addition instead of a mandatory component in order to play the game. In any case, I think that there has to be an alternative way to play without the app, perhaps if one person play as DM.

[@jasongrundy1717]

Chronicles of Crime is 99% being a checkout clerk and 1% being a detective. This looks twice as good. 2% fun. Yeah, no thanks, deeply regret getting the originals.

[@Zaidkw]

I disagree but this comment is absolutely hilarious. 👌🏽

[@kennythegreatbear]

@Jason Grundy have you tried Detective: Modern Crime BG?

[@adamg4912]

I pretty much agree. I don't regret getting the original though. Had some fun solving the cases and then sold it off. No biggie.

[@blankstarehaircare]

I felt that way when I played solo, but with 2 I had a lot of fun talking about about a case, coming up with theories, and laughing at the game's frequent goofiness

[@Physiology-E-Paathshala]

Board games are supposed to lessen your screen time....Integrating an app into a board game defeats that purpose. If this is going to be the next innovation...I am better either playing digital games only...

[@nezukoshop]

Sorry, but for me, these Vision card is just ruin the game for me. I am a playtester for CoC Millennium and still going on with another 1900 scenario, but the 2 scenario thrown to us as Playtester, these Vision cards mess everything up. They told you to take the Vision cards at the start of each scenario, so basically they spoiled eveything that may happened in your scenario. So, if you haven't found a particular character through halfway playing, then maybe you are doing something wrong. Another case, by looking at ision cards, you know if someone is knew another char or viceversa. So, when you interogate a char and he/she said doesnt know a particular char, then you know she/he'is lying. These ruined the game for me. 1400 is the weakest from the trilogy.

[@thedicetower]

But that's the fun! You have to use the vision cards!

[@nezukoshop]

@@thedicetower Don't get me wrong, i like the idea of Vision cards where the main character has a Vision kind of like a seer. But the implementation is just not great. I have given suggestion to Luckyduck on how to implement these Vision cards after playtesting the first scenario thrown at us. But they can not change how the scenario unfold because of deadline to launch the game. For me it's better if the vision cards are unfold one or 2 at a time through out the scenario, so not all at one at the start of each scenario. That way the Vision cards will not spoiled much for the entire scenario, and it will give a better immersion of how the main character as a seer. In the 'The Divine Will' scenario, I even not use a single help from family member because I could draw conclusion from all the Vision cards given all at once. Great idea, just not great implementation.